Buchanan admits ploy to challenge rivals

John Buchanan claims he taunted England and New Zealand on purpose during the CB Series so Australia could be tested before the World Cup. Buchanan, who asked for his bowlers to be put under pressure during the one-day series, said in the West Indies it was a ploy to find his team's weaknesses.

"It was important we were tested then and not here," Buchanan said in the Sunday Mail. "That was all part of trying to find out where our weaknesses were. There were a whole lot of pieces that went into getting us here."

Australia have been unbeaten during the World Cup but Buchanan said he did not feel "vindicated or not vindicated" by his public announcement. "I just stuck with what I thought was the way to give us our best chance," he said. "We are going well but we are only a fraction of the way through the tournament."

During the one-day series Australia also underwent a heavy training regime in preparation for the tournament and then went on to lose five games - and two trophies - in a row. Shane Warne led the list of complainers, which also included Mark Waugh.

"Criticism always hurts," Buchanan said. "However, when criticism comes from a position of ignorance I tend not to worry about it too much."

Buchanan said he never doubted the benefits of increasing the training workload. "We didn't plan on having losses, though," he said. "We kept ourselves to where we wanted to be. We understood what we had to do and what we are putting in place."

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